This program may turn out to be very important in the long run...

Well I think that may qualify as the higher-ed understatement of the (early) century.

The pressure to "open source" web-friendly material will be very hard to resist, with a top-tier institution leading the charge.

From the outside looking in, this is a "gift" of incalculable value to folks who would otherwise never have access to this stuff.

And if I were a "hackademic", coasting along, I'd be praying *my* specialty wasn't suddenly bathed in sunlight.

Very useful. Next step - allowing people to take the tests for credit. Of course that might have unfortunate economic consequences.

This sort of thing is very useful. Next step is to allow people to take the tests for credit. Although that could have very sever economic effects...

>>And if I were a "hackademic", coasting along, I'd be praying *my* specialty wasn't suddenly bathed in sunlight.<<

Why? Unless you hold the opinion that the earnings premium for graduates of top universities reflects their superior education, there's nothing to fear. And I've never seen anything that would amount to convincing evidence for such a counter-intuitive and heterodox proposition :-)

The idea of open courseware is excellent. This is only the beginning, and hopefully it will grow and expand from here. I found it odd that so few introductory courses were offered. The courses seemed to have been randomly plucked from the curriculum.

Now if only they would start using the engineering method to design, test and improve their courseware... now that would revolutionize education! I always found it odd when taking science and statistics classes that the tests used were not subject to reliability, repeatability or accuracy standards. Though this might lead tword greater efficiency in education and thus lower costs and deflation...

Speaking as a lifelong hackademic, a couple of confessions. First: when I learned of the Teaching Co and its superstar lecturers my heart sank, for all the guessable reasons. Second: I now listen to this stuff a lot (I have a nasty commute). I enjoy it, and I learn from it, not only the substance but stuff about teaching. In short, I think they have sharpened my game.